The present invention relates in general to payment schemes for information distribution systems and more specifically to a system for allowing different payment schemes where a user is obtaining content such as video programs in digital format.
It is useful to have flexible payment schemes to allow users a wide possibility of choices in purchasing digital content such as video, audio, text, or other information. For example, today's consumers can order “pay-per-view” television programs which allow the consumer to purchase individual programs. However, the cost of purchasing a program is the same regardless of whether the consumer purchases and views the entire program, or just a portion of the program. For example, if a consumer selects a program midway through that program's broadcast, the cost to the consumer is still the full price for the program. Thus, it would be useful to allow for different pricing schemes, for example, to allow a consumer to purchase portions of a program at reduced cost.
The implementation of a flexible payment scheme would preferably be compatible with existing delivery mechanisms. For example, security is a big issue for digital content delivery. Typically, the information is encrypted, or otherwise restricted, so that users who have not paid, who are not authorized, etc., are prevented from making use of the information. One approach uses cryptographic “keys” which are used to decrypt digital information prior to using the information by, e.g., displaying the information on a television screen. Such keys may be generated, re-generated, or derived at different intervals, e.g., on the order of months to every tenth of a second, or so. Any payment scheme must work within the security architecture of the digital information delivery system to provide access to the information according to the payment scheme.